


why is he rolling?

by Pawprinter



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Background Alex/Willie - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Platonic Relationships, Pop Culture, our favourite ghosts discover memes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27398602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pawprinter/pseuds/Pawprinter
Summary: Luke, Alex, and Reggie try to figure out memes. It goes as well as you'd expect.
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie
Comments: 46
Kudos: 276
Collections: JATP Appreciation Week





	why is he rolling?

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written for Julie and the Phantoms Appreciation Week [on Tumblr](https://jatp-week.tumblr.com)!
> 
> This was is written for day 4, which gives the prompt of writing a fic with pop culture/memes. Originally, I planned to write a fic set in the [wheelies and art stealies verse](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977508) (a sequel to both fears (don't get me started) and dermatologists HATE them), but I ran out of time! Hopefully, that will be coming sometime soon though...
> 
> Enjoy!

When Alex showed up late to band rehearsal humming a song he and Willie had been jamming out to, he did not expect  _ this. _

Julie doubled over from the force of her laughter, unable to speak. The three of them stood around her, just  _ staring. _ It gave Alex some relief to know none of them knew what was going on. At least they were oblivious together. 

“Uh.” He blinked. “Sorry I’m late? Is that why you’re dying over there?” 

“No,” she wheezed, “no, I— I— oh my god.”

Then, she was back to laughing.

Alex glanced at the other two, all of them sharing varied expressions of concern.

“Dude,” Reggie said, “I think you broke her.”

_ That  _ sent Julie spiralling more. Her legs gave out and she ended up spread on the floor, her hair in her face and her arms holding her middle.

If Alex wasn’t so concerned, the mere image of her in that moment would’ve been enough to get  _ him  _ to end up on the floor beside her, his sides in stitches.

“What happened?” he pressed, glancing at Luke. “Was she like this before I got here?”

“No, she was fine. I mean, we were joking around because you were late again, but—”

Reggie elbowed Alex’s ribs in jest. “Out with Willie again, huh? You guys are getting pretty close.”

“Don’t touch me.” He batted his arm away and scowled.

“—she wasn’t  _ laughing,”  _ Luke continued, ignoring both of them. “But then you showed up and…” He gestured exasperatingly towards her on the ground, at a loss for words. 

“Maybe it's your shirt,” Reggie suggested.

“There’s nothing funny about my shirt.”

“Well… I mean… it  _ is  _ a bit comical.”

Alex glanced at his  _ plain _ shirt. “Uh. Why?”

“I mean, have you  _ seen  _ it?”

“Yeah. I have. That’s why I’m  _ confused. _ What’s so funny about my shirt?”

“You’re going to make me say it? Really? You can't just—”

“ _ Yeah, _ I’m gonna make you say it because nobody knows what you’re talking about.”

“Well—”

“Go on—”

“I mean—”

Luke cut both of them off with a shove to their shoulders. Julie was slowly trying to pull herself off the floor, tears in her eyes and her cheeks flushed.

“It’s not— It’s not your shirt,” she promised Alex. “What— where did you hear that song?”

“What song?”

“The one you were singing—” She was barely able to hold herself together long enough to speak. “—when you showed up  _ late,  _ might I add.”

Alex cringed and tried to explain. “Yeah, sorry, I guess ghosts and time don’t really  _ mix  _ well and—”

Luke was the one to reply. “It was that Rick Astley one, wasn’t it?” He snapped his fingers and hummed a few notes before bursting into song.  _ “I’m never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down.” _

Alex jumped in to finish the iconic chorus.  _ “Never gonna run around and desert you.” _

By the time they finished, Julie was on the floor again, crying from laughter.

Reggie simply stood there. “Do you think I should call Flynn? Is this an emergency? I’d classify this as an emergency.”

“An emergency would be a ‘hot dog’ situation,” Luke corrected. “She’s just… laughing… for some reason.” He pouted and looked at Alex. “Was I  _ that _ off key?”

_ “You?  _ She started laughing when  _ Alex  _ came in,” Reggie pointed out. “Maybe he’s the one off pitch.”

Alex scowled at both of them. “Uh, rude, much? Geez, I show up late  _ once  _ and suddenly it’s ‘attack Alex’ time, huh? What ever happened to ‘never gonna give you up? Never gonna let you down?’ Because I feel  _ very  _ let down right now.”

Julie must’ve choked on something because suddenly she wasn’t just laughing, but she was sputtering between coughs.

“Stop,” she requested, “I can’t breathe.”

Reggie lifted his finger. “Not breathing qualifies as a ‘hot dog’ situation. They haven’t changed the number for emergency services, have they?”

“Uhhh, I don’t  _ think  _ so, but—”

“Stop, please,” she requested, still on the floor. She pressed her hands to her torso and sucked in a few long breaths. “Alex,  _ why  _ are you singing that song?”

He was  _ very  _ confused at this line of questioning, but responded anyway. “Willie said it’s his favourite and told me that everyone loved it in the year twenty-twenty, but—”

“Alex, it’s a  _ meme.  _ People use that song as a joke now.”

His mouth snapped shut. 

A beat passed.

“Huh?”

“I think Willie pranked you,” Luke answered when it was clear Julie still wasn’t able to speak. He elbowed him in the ribs. “But, I gotta admit it, man… you  _ killed  _ it on that chorus.”

“Wait, let’s circle back to  _ Willie  _ pranking  _ me,”  _ Alex requested. His gaze darted across their expressions and his hands hovered in mid-air as he attempted to put the pieces together. “But Rick Astley is a  _ legend.  _ How can he be a prank?”

“So, you’re never gonna give him up?” Reggie asked, grinning widely. Alex gave him a deadpan look. “Oh, so it’s fine for Luke to make jokes, but as soon as I start—“

“We have more pressing issues,” Luke cut in, gesturing to Julie on the floor. While she wasn’t laughing as hard as she was a few minutes ago, she was still laying flat against the floor and was taking shaking breaths. “You good, Molina? Don’t die on us now.”

“Yeah, we already have three dead people on team Julie and the Phantoms; we don’t need one more.” 

She looked amused. “I’m good, I’m good. Just… let’s talk about something other than how Alex just Rickrolled us, otherwise we’re never going to get this practice going.”

Luke reached forward and offered her a hand up while Alex and Reggie circled back to the practice area to settle with their instruments.

Once again, it was Luke who spoke. “I wasn’t kidding earlier, man. Alex, your voice is— what do they say these days?”

“Woke?”

“Solid?”

“Out of this world?” Reggie looked pleased with himself. “Would you say Alex has the voice of an angel? A voice that could make your soul leave your body? A voice that could wake the dead?”

Alex looked dead on the inside. “I hate you.”

“I know.”

Luke and Julie were both moving into positions now, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of him. He looked  _ very  _ confused. “No,” he said, shaking his head, “not that. Something about chefs kissing? But why would chefs be kissing when they’re supposed to be cooking?”

For the second time that day, Julie collapsed from laughter.

Luke glanced over his shoulder at Alex and Reggie, exchanging a confused look with each of them. “Did I say something?”

“Modern slang is hard,” Reggie complained. “Woke sounds like broke, but they’re opposites  _ apparently.  _ There’s noises coming from that tick tock app, you ‘do it for the Vine’ but no plants are involved, chefs are kissing, there’s a king of tigers, Rick Astley is rolling, and—  _ I’m so confused.” _

“You know,” Alex said, “usually Reg is alone in that one, but… I gotta admit, he has a point. I’m confused most of the time too. There are times where it feels Willie is from a different planet, you know?”

Julie managed to get ahold of herself long enough to speak. “It’s  _ chef kiss,  _ you guys. As in like…” She brought her fingers to her lips and made a loud smooching sound. “It means it’s really good.”

The three ghosts stared at her for a long moment. 

Reggie was the first to speak.

“Huh. Cool.” He didn’t look any less confused than he did before. “While we’re on the topic, can you explain why Willie pointed to my shoes the other day and said ‘what are those things?’ Is that also related to the whole…” He mimicked her action, bringing his fingers to his lips and kissing. 

“Wait, no,” Luke said, “Willie said ‘what are those.’ But… with a really drawn out ‘oh’ sound. And then he said something about a crocodile? Or maybe he said crocs? But  _ that  _ doesn’t really make sense, so—”

Julie was back to laughing on the floor, leaving the three guys to figure it out themselves.

Alex spun his drumsticks around for a bit before it all clicked. He gestured to his temple, beaming. 

“You know what? I just got it. I get it now.”

“Thank god,” Reggie said. “Not only did you come through with all those late night study sessions in chemistry, but now you’re coming through  _ here. _ You’re a genius.”

“They don’t say genius anymore,” Luke corrected. “It’s something about… universe brain? Galaxy brain?”

“Whatever. Not the point.” Alex lifted one hand. “You see, we have Willie talking about crocodiles on this side. And, over here—” He lifted his other hand, “we have the tick tock app.  _ He’s referring to the Peter Pan crocodile, guys —  _ the crocodile that ate the clock. Get it? Because the crocodile goes tick tock.”

They all exchanged relieved glances, each of them happy that they finally figured it out. 

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Definitely.”

“What I can’t figure out is Rick Astley though.” Luke leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Why is he rolling? Is he okay? Did he fall?”

“Speaking of falling,” Reggie interrupted, “what do you guys think about the whole ‘help me, I have fallen down and I’m unable to stand’ thing? I don’t understand?”

“Oh, easy. That’s definitely the origin of ‘yeet,’ right?” Luke looked so confident with his answer.

“Yeet. Why is that a thing? What’s the past tense of yeet? Yote? Yeeted?” Alex rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I think I’m getting a headache. I miss cassettes. Nobody yeeted cassettes.”

“It’s actually yote,” Luke corrected. “Nobody _yote_ cassettes.”

“No, I think yote is the orange thing in an egg.”

“That’s  _ yolk,  _ Reggie.”

“Oh... Are you sure? Because I’m  _ preeeeetty  _ sure it’s—”

“I’m in pain,” Julie said, still on the floor. “Actual pain.”

It was safe to say practice didn’t happen that day.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: this fic included lyrics from Rick Astley's song "Never Gonna Give You Up," which I do not take credit for.
> 
> The memes and references to pop culture are: Peter Pan, the Rickroll, Tiger King, the "what are those / they are my crocs" Vine, and the "help I've fallen and I can't get up" commercial.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> Paw  
> Find me on [Tumblr!](https://pawprinterfanfic.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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